You’ve heard their names. University of Phoenix. Kaplan University. Full Sail University. These for-profit schools promise their students great jobs and opportunities, but often end up delivering little else than tens of thousands of dollars of debt and useless credits or diplomas. What makes matters worse is that these subprime schools get billions of dollars of taxpayer cash through federal loans and grants.

Last month, we here at Republic Report confronted a U.S. Senator who defends this corrupt industry. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) attended an event sponsored by the Atlantic Magazine and Microsoft to promote technology’s role in education. During his interview with PBS’s Judy Woodruff, he kept advocating for smaller government and Washington having less of a role in education, but he defended taxpayer support for for-profit schools and criticized efforts to hold these schools accountable for waste, fraud, and abuse.

So I got up during the Q&A session and asked him why Americans are asked to give our taxpayer dollars to schools that have just 11 percent of students but account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. “I don’t think you take away those choices for students,” he replied, defending the role that these schools play. He failed to explain how paying for students to go to scam schools helps them in any way.

After he was done answer my question, Woodruff asked him how much federal money for-profit colleges get. He was unable to give her an answer. So we waited until the event was over — and for the senator to conclude his conversation with a Microsoft lobbyist — and asked Alexander why he supports lavishing even the worst scam schools with hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

Alexander repeatedly dodged our questions and didn’t know how much federal money these subprime colleges get, despite advocating for them to continue to be subsidized by taxpayers:

FANG: My colleague Zaid Jilani asked you a question during the event. We kind of left a point hanging. Judy Woodruff asked you how much money the for-profit college industry gets. You didn’t answer that question.

ALEXANDER: Well maybe you could.

FANG: The answer is 26 billion. Bloomberg reported that 2 billion of that goes directly to executive compensation. What do you think of that. Isn’t that basically a bailout given the enormous default rates, the scammy practices being investigated in states like Kentucky and California, all across the country. Basically defrauding students from coast to coast. And we’re paying for it.

ALEXANDER: (silence)

JILANI: It’s all Washington. You want to get Washington out of something, get it out of these scam schools. That’s what we’re saying.

FANG: Are you defending this fraudulent industry because of the campaign contributions they give to your —

ALEXANDER: Who do you work for?
FANG: Republic Report, we’re a blog that covers lobbying. These for-profit colleges lobby very aggressively. I don’t know if they’re giving you your facts on this. Senator Alexander. You’re here talking about education. But you don’t want to talk about for-profit colleges? Senator Alexander you don’t want to talk — ?

ALEXANDER: No, it’s great to see you. I’m glad to talk about those colleges. And I just did in my remarks.

FANG: But you’re talking about being a responsible steward of taxpayers’ money yet you’re giving these fraudulent companies billions of dollars with no accountability. I mean literally the CEO of Strayer University gave himself 40 million dollars while defrauding his students. I mean this is basically subprime but on the education level. And you’re supporting it. How can you do that as a little government conservative. Is it because of the lobbying and campaign contributions?

Watch it:

It is simply astonishing to watch Alexander — a former college president, governor, and Secretary of Education — tell us that he doesn’t know how much taxpayer money flows to subprime colleges like the University of Phoenix. Either Alexander is remarkably ignorant given his stature and history, or he’s cynically covering up for an industry that has been directly working with Members of Congress to freeze out public scrutiny and engage in a fierce lobbying campaign on its behalf.

We have the Government getting “tough” on Student Borrowers, even considering doubling the interest rate. The “Schools” mentioned are, in this particular category, the “Cream of the Crop”. There are many in existence, and that have fled their respective states under the cloud of criminality, that were ever so much worse.

So, how does the Department of Education handle a situation where the “school” was obviously fraudulent, where Criminal Investigations are ongoing and/or the the owners, with the monies and records have fled prosecution?

They bang on the other Victims, the Students, of course. There are vicious Debt Collectors (The EOCCA-or something like that, is the worst and is located in California.) They make NO effort to bring the real Criminals to Justice, but hamper the already diminished futures of the victimized students.

I went to 2 for-profit colleges. Both used fraud tactics to enroll me. I didn’t fully figure it out until it was too late. These schools are nothing but a scam. They’re just preying on the poor to get the Federal money and using it to lobby the continued fraud. Funneling federal funding through poor students, and claiming it’s access to higher ed. It’s FRAUD.

Bill49259

If the Republicans are so in favor of cutting different things from the budget, here is one we can start with.

Jilani, great job holding him to the questions, and it is very obvious he is skirting the issues. He’s not fooling anyone who is reading this piece. He and Congress also don’t want anyone to know about groups like, Forgivestudentloandebt.com, who have been working for three years, to expose the truth about these institutions and the dysfuncional legislation in Congress that has added to the student lending debacle. H.R. 4170 is legislation they don’t want the American people and the students to know about. It is a 10/10 plan, that helps students who have paid on their loans for ten years, get out from under the debilitating and usurious fees and interest that are mounted on top of their original loan amount. It’s a complicated situation, and Robert Applebaum, Esq., with Rep. Hansen Clarke, have proposed legislation that will begin to put the breaks on this predatory and corrupt, rigged, system, that many in Congress have been Bought to support, by the lenders and most institutions of higher learning — or should I say higher earning — and this is another bureauracy run a muck and holding the students hostage with horrific rising tuition rates, CEO salaries that are the highest ever, and education that is ranked one of the lowest among the 27 major global economies. And with the jobs gone overseas, thanks to dysfunctional legislation — again — courtesy of our Congress of the past 20 years, we have lost jobs, rights, and fair trade and tax laws to a government that is supporting their super PACS and their Wallstreet buddies, so they glean the benefits while the average American drowns in debt, with less income opportunities and wages that have been the lowest in decades. Support the struggling students act and lets get this nation back on track.

I’m said to say that this clown is from my state. I won’t say he represents me, because he only represents those who contribute to him. The morons in TN will probably keep electing him and his kind – they don’t seem to realize that he doesn’t care about 99% of the people who live here.

Republic Report is dedicated to rooting out the corruption that is so corrosive to American values. We investigate and uncover the buying and selling of politicians and of institutions entrusted with upholding the public interest. We expose how big money distorts major policy decisions – harming our economy and our people.